


What Doesn’t Kill Him

by MayDayGirl_Save_Our_Ships



Category: Milo Murphy's Law
Genre: milo talks about his scars, when isn't zack worried, zack is worried
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-31 00:43:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8555944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayDayGirl_Save_Our_Ships/pseuds/MayDayGirl_Save_Our_Ships
Summary: Zack knew that his best friend had lot of scars. He never really gave them much thought before, but after a trip to the lake, Zack is horrified to see just how brutal Murphy’s Law can be.





	

“So, Milo is going to meet us here?” Zack asked, looking over at Melissa. She was carrying towels in one hand and a beach ball under her shoulder in the other.

“Yep, he should be already here,” Melissa said. “I still can’t believe you haven’t been to the lake yet.”

“Well, I’ve only been here for a few months,” Zack reminded her. He paused as another thought entered his mind. “Umm, the lake is going to be safe, right?”

Melissa smirked at him. “What, afraid the lake monster is going to get you?”

“Very funny. You know what I mean.”

“It’s better than the ocean,” Melissa said with a shrug. “No riptide, no sharks, no other sea creatures, and there is a life guard on duty.”

Zack nodded thoughtfully. “That’s good.”

“Yeah, we stopped going to the ocean ever since that pod of orcas carried Milo away. It took hours for the rescue boat to find him.” Melissa must have noticed Zack’s concerned face, because she added: “Oh, he was fine. They just wanted to play.”

“You’re not joking are you?”

“Do I ever joke about Milo’s adventures? They don’t need embellishment. They’re strange enough on their own.”

“True,” Zack agreed.

“Hey, Melissa! Zack! Over here!” Zack heard a voice calling to them. Sure enough, they looked up to see Milo Murphy standing next to his beach towel waving excitedly at them.

“You got a good spot,” Melissa said as they approached the boy. She threw the towels in her hand down haphazardly on the grassy lakeside.

“Yeah, there aren’t that many people here today!” Milo said enthusiastically.

Zack followed behind Melissa. His intention was to place the cooler in his hand on the ground beside the towels, but all coordination left him as soon as his eyes landed on Milo.

“Hey, watch it!” Melissa shouted as her feet became covered in ice from the cooler that had unceremoniously dropped out of Zack’s hands and split open onto the ground.

Zack, however, hadn’t even noticed Melissa’s shouts. This was the first time Zack had seen Milo in just his swim trunks, and his mind had gone completely blank as he tried to comprehend what he was looking at. The only coherent thought that passed through his mind was: _‘how is this kid not dead yet?’_

Zack always knew Milo had a lot of scars; there were a good number of them covering his arms and legs, but _this_ was beyond anything he could have imagined, especially on a thirteen-year-old. Milo’s chest was covered in scars of all different shapes and sizes. There was a long faded white scar that went from the middle of Milo’s collarbone down his chest and stopped at the end of his ribcage. Two additional large scars jaggedly streaked across his abdomen and Zack’s mind filled with horrifying images of what disaster could have caused those scars. And those were only the big scars. Small to medium scars covered his friend; some of them were smooth and faded, but others were raised and bright white.

“Oh, I got it!” Milo volunteered. As Milo bent down to pick up the fallen cooler, Zack caught a glimpse of Milo’s back. A long diagonal scar cut across his friend’s back, crossing over his spine at the base of his neck. How deep had that wound gone and how close had Milo come to severing his spine? There was a discolored patch of skin on Milo’s lower back which Zack immediately recognized as a severe burn mark. Several smaller scars were scattered across his back. If he had this many scars now, how many more would he have in ten years? And judging from how dangerous some of those scars looked, would his friend even live that long?

After Milo picked up the cooler and set it down closer to their towels, he turned back to Zack in concern. “You okay, Zack?”

“Uh… y-yeah, I’m fine. Sorry about that,” he managed to choke out, but his eyes were back on Milo’s chest as he stared at the most perplexing cluster of scars yet. There was a strange scar that started at the top of Milo’s right shoulder and traveled diagonally down his chest. Parts of the scar branched out like the veins in a leaf, twisting and splitting off again and again like it had a mind of its own.

Zack had no idea what kind of injury could have caused a scar like that. Unless scars were made by a surgeon, they were usually random, but this scar had its own pattern. Zack would have thought it was a tattoo if it had been inked in and Milo wasn’t thirteen. Although Zack had only gotten a quick glance at Milo’s back, he realized that there had been a similar pattern of scars down his back as well. Whatever had happened to Milo to cause this, it had happened twice.

“No problem!” Milo said cheerily. “Although, we probably shouldn’t open the sodas for a while. They got pretty shaken up.”

Zack was vaguely aware of his head giving an affirmative nod. He was starting to feel lightheaded actually…

“You guys ready to go in the water?” Milo asked.

“Of course, that’s why we came for,” Melissa said. “But umm, first do you think you could check and make sure there is a lifeguard on duty for me? I promised my dad we would double check.”

“Sure thing!” Milo agreed. “You can never be too careful. I’ll be right back.”

Zack couldn’t help but continue to stare even as Milo walked away. His thoughts wouldn’t stop racing through his head. Milo was just a kid and he already had to deal with so many horrific injuries. What if one day he got hurt so bad that he couldn’t recover? What if one of the injuries that had caused one of those big scars had been a little bit deeper? What if something bad happened to Milo today and Zack didn’t know how to help him?

Zack jumped when he felt a hand land on his shoulder.

“You still with us?” Melissa asked, not unkindly.

“Y-Yeah… I… is… is he okay?!” Zack gestured frantically in the direction Milo disappeared in.

“He’s Milo, of course he’s okay,” Melissa said with a casual shrug.

“But I mean, all those scars… I-I just never realized how bad…”

“Take it easy,” Melissa said, her voice surprisingly gentle as she grabbed both his forearms and turned him to face her. “I probably should have given you a warning. I didn’t realize you were going to panic over this.”

“I’m not panicking, I’m just- just- worried!” Zack exclaimed, his arms gesticulating widely. “Those scars are… and I just never thought-” Zack took a shuddering breath, and then another, deeper breath. He needed to calm down or he would have a panic attack again. “Melissa… has Milo ever come close to dying from Murphy’s Law?”

Melissa raised an eyebrow at him. “Zack, where have you been? The first day you met Milo the two of you fell off of a cliff together.”

Zack shook his head. “No, no, I don’t mean it like that. He’s in danger every day, I get that. But this is different. He usually only gets a few scratches or a broken bone or clavicle, but I’ve never seen anything really bad happen. I’ve always known that it was possible that he could get seriously injured, but I guess I never thought it could really happen. But after seeing those scars… I…” Zack trailed off, unable to finish.

“Zack, don’t worry,” Melissa said as she patted Zack’s shoulder dismissively. “All of Milo’s scars were just superficial! His life was never in danger for any of them!”

Zack blinked. He suddenly felt like he could breathe again. “Really?” But then his stomach plummeted when he noticed the forced smile on her face. “You’re lying to make me feel better, aren’t you?”

Melissa’s smile faltered and then fell away completely. She let out a long sigh. “Yeah, sorry.” She rubbed her arm uncomfortably. “I was trying to stop you from freaking out more, but it’s not really fair of me to lie to you. After all, you’re one of us now.”

Usually Zack would smile at the ‘one of us’ comment, but he couldn’t get his mind off of Milo’s scars. It was just so unfair! Milo was the nicest person Zack had ever met. He didn’t deserve to get thrown around by Murphy’s Law to the point where his body was covered in scars, some of which had come from injuries that had actually threatened his life.

“I just don’t understand,” Zack said in frustration. “Milo is just a kid! How can his parents let him deal with all this stuff on his own? How could his mom even let him out of the house without worrying about him constantly? How do you not worry about him?” Zack pointed at Melissa. “I mean, doesn’t anyone care?”

“Hey!” Melissa snapped as she gave Zack’s chest a firm shove and Zack stumbled backwards.

When Zack caught his balance, he looked up to see Melissa’s glaring at him, as if daring him to say anything else.

“S-sorry,” Zack apologized, horrified at what had come out of his mouth. “Jeez, I didn’t really mean that.” He shook his head. “O-of course you care about Milo, and of course his parents care, it’s just…”

“I know, it’s okay, I get it,” Melissa finished for him, her voice suddenly gentle. “I know you didn’t mean it.”

Zack felt himself sag in relief. 

“Zack, there is no possible way to keep Milo safe all the time, you know that, but the reason I manage not to worry about him too much is because he has all those scars.”

Zack’s brows furrowed as he stared at his friend in confusion. “What? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Sure it does,” Melissa countered. “Some of those scars come from injuries that could have killed him, and some of the smaller ones were lucky misses.”

“I’m not really seeing your point here, and you’re not making me feel any better.”

“My point,” Melissa pressed firmly, “is that they are scars. They healed. He lived. No matter what happens, no matter what goes wrong, Milo has always lived through it.”

“Yeah, so far, but-”

“You saw how many scars he has,” Melissa interrupted. “A lot of them could have been much worse. Do you really think he got lucky each and every time? Luck, as you know, isn’t really on his side.”

“That’s true-”

“So if Milo didn’t get lucky, and his life is put in danger almost every day, then how does he always survive?”

“Because… because…” Frustrated, Zack ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know! It’s just that he’s… he’s Milo! He always knows what to do!”

Melissa grinned. “Exactly! But it wasn’t like he was born knowing what to do. He’s made mistakes, he’s gotten hurt. Over and over and over again…”

And all at once, something clicked and Melissa was starting to make sense.

“So it’s a ‘what doesn’t kill him makes him stronger’ thing?”

“Basically,” Melissa agreed. “I don’t like the idea of him getting hurt any more than you do, but there is nothing we can do about that. He’s survived this long, the least we can do is have a little faith in him.”

“I guess you’re right,” Zack agreed slowly as he let Melissa’s words sink in. “I’m still going to worry about him though.”

Melissa laughed. “Don’t worry, you’re not alone. We’re his friends, it’s our job.”

Zack sighed and rubbed his face with the palm of his hand. “I still can’t believe he has that many scars. Some of them I can’t even imagine where they could have come from.”

“Well, why don’t you ask him?” Melissa suggested.

Zack’s hand fell from his face as he stared at her. “Can I?”

Melissa chuckled. “Of course! Milo loves talking about his scars. He’s proud of them! He doesn’t associate them with pain or bad things. He thinks of them as reminders of all his adventures. I think he remembers almost every single one, and he loves talking about them.” Melissa rolled her eyes. “I’ve probably heard every story at least twice, even the ones I was there for.”

Zack put a hand up to his chin in thought. He was curious about some of them, and Melissa was right, Milo was an open book and never got offended when Zack asked personal questions.

“Hold on,” Zack said at last, turning his attention back to Melissa. “You never really promise your dad that you would double check about the lifeguard, did you?”

Melissa grinned. “Nope, but I did have to check on you.” Melissa nudged him in the rib, which caused him to wince. “You went pretty pale there. I was worried you were going to pass out.”

Zack could feel his cheeks growing warm. “I was worried about my friend, so sue me.” Zack glanced in the direction of the lifeguard posts. “Speaking of Milo, should we go find him? I thought he would be on his way back by now, but I don’t see him.”

“Yeah, something probably happened,” Melissa agreed. “Let’s go see if he needs any help.”

* * *

A flattened beach ball, an incident with a runaway Jet Ski and an injured Milo Murphy later, Zack found himself sitting on a beach towel with best friend.  Milo had a bandage wrapped around his right arm where he had gotten cut by a flying piece of the Jet Ski, and his twisted ankle was elevated on top of the cooler to keep the swelling down. Melissa had gone to the lifeguard shack to grab Milo an ice pack since Milo had used up the last of the ice packs he kept in his backpack yesterday, and most of the ice had spilled out of the cooler when Zack had dropped it. All that was left in the cooler was slushy water, which was  no help to anyone.

Other than the last few minutes of chaos and injury, it had been a fun trip to the lake. Zack had almost completely forgotten about Milo’s scars and how worried he had been about his friend. Melissa’s speech about having faith in Milo had helped a lot.  

“I’m sorry about your ankle and your arm, man,” Zack said. “That Jet Ski shouldn’t have been that close to shore.”

“Oh, don’t worry!” Milo said. “I still had a great time and I’ve had worse than this!”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Zack’s jaw snapped closed as soon as he realized what had come out of his mouth. Mortified, he glanced over at Milo, but the boy either hadn’t noticed the comment, or if he had, it hadn’t bothered him.  

Out of the corner of his eye, Zack continued to watch Milo. The boy was happily staring out at the lake, smiling slightly to himself. Without turning his head too far so Milo wouldn’t notice, Zack glanced down at the scars on his friend’s torso. The strange pattern of scars with multiple branches spreading down his shoulder and across his chest caught his eye again. He still couldn’t figure out what those scars could possibly be from.

He thought back to what Melissa had said. 

“Hey, Milo?” Zack began.

“Yeah?” Milo pulled his gaze away from the shoreline to look at him.

“I was wondering… where did you get that scar?”

“Oh!” Milo’s face seemed to light up “Which one? I have a lot.”

That was an understatement.

“That one that starts on your shoulder.” Zack pointed to it. “I’ve never seen a scar like that.”

“Oh yeah, that one! That’s from the second time I got struck by lightning. Isn’t it cool? It’s one of my favorite scars.”

Zack stared. “Struck by lightning? Seriously?” He paused. “Wait, _second time_?”

Milo nodded. “Yeah, the first time I got struck was a few years earlier and that scar goes down my back. Lightning leaves the coolest scars because it burns your skin as it travels down your body.”

Zack winced. “That sounds really painful.”

“It is,” Milo said cheerily. “But I passed out so I don’t have a good memory of it. That’s why I’m really glad I have these cool scars so I can always remember it. How many people get to have scars from lighting strikes?”

“Not many, I guess,” Zack admitted. “But isn’t it supposed to be impossible for lighting to strike the same person twice? How did you get hit again?”

“That’s just a myth. There have been plenty of people who have been struck by lightning multiple times!”

“Uh-huh, and how many of those people have the last name Murphy?”

Milo opened his mouth, but then closed it again thoughtfully. After a moment, he spoke again with a small chuckle. “Okay, good point. There have been a few that weren’t Murphy’s though. Granted they were standing next to a Murphy when it happened…”

“Okay, well, the next time we have a thunderstorm I vote we stay inside a building.”

Milo laughed. “Good plan.”

“So, how did you get those scar on your stomach then?” Zack asked.

“Oh, that’s another good story and it’s the reason I try to stay away from zoos.”

“Are you telling him about the time the elephants stampeded and broke into the ostrich enclosure?” Melissa’s voice asked from behind them.

“Yeah, those birds are a lot more ferocious then I realized,” Milo said as Melissa sat down on a towel beside them and placed an icepack over Milo’s swollen ankle. “Thanks Melissa.”

“No problem. After this story you should tell him about how you got that big scar on your back.”

Milo laughed. “Good idea! I’ll never forget that day!”

“So you really remember where you got all of your scars from?” Zack asked.

“Yeah, most of them. But the smaller ones I forget because there are too many.”

“Well, if that cut on your arm becomes a scar,” Zack said while pointing to Milo’s bandaged arm, “then you won’t ever forget this trip to the lake.”

“A scar would be cool,” Milo agreed. “But today had been so awesome I don’t think I will ever forget it, scar or no scar.”

“Yeah,” Zack agreed. “Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr [ maydaygirl-save-our-ships.](http://maydaygirl-save-our-ships.tumblr.com/)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Always There](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8626120) by [ShadowoftheLamp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowoftheLamp/pseuds/ShadowoftheLamp)




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